Aryl nitriles can be prepared by the cyanation of aryl halides with an excess of copper(I) cyanide in a polar high-boiling solvent such as DMF, nitrobenzene, or pyridine at reflux temperature using Rosenmund-von Braun Reaction.
Alpha beta unsaturated nitriles are versatile reagents which have been used extensively in the synthesis of heterocycle compounds. Synthesis of cinnamonitrile by treating benzaldehyde with acetonitrile in presence of alkali is disclosed in Organic Syntheses, Coll. Vol. 7, p.108 (1990); Vol. 62, p.179 (1984). An article titled “Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of 2-Amino-4H-chromenes Catalyzed by Ferric Hydrogen Sulfate and Zr-Based Catalysts of FI” published in Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic, and Nano-Metal Chemistry, Volume 41, Issue 9, 2011, wherein, the preparation of α-cyanocinnamonitrile is carried by the condensation of aldehyde with malononitrile to afford α-cyanocinnamonitrile derivatives by Knoevenagel addition reaction.
Decarboxylation of E-3-phenyl-2-cyanopropenoic acid in dimethyl sulfoxide containing sodium bicarbonate, lithium chloride, and water in molar excess afforded, with high stereospecificity, Z-cinnamonitrile is disclosed in an article titled “Stereochemistry of the dealkoxycarbonylation of methyl α-cyanocinnamate and of the decarboxylation of the corresponding cyano acid: a facile stereoselective route to Z-cinnamonitrile” Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 24, Issue 36, 1983, Pages 3835-3838. Article titled, “HYDROCYANATION OF ALKENES AND ALKYNES” by T. V. (BABU) RAJANBABU reports that Hydrogen cyanide itself is relatively unreactive, but in the presence of a catalyst HCN adds to carbonyl compounds, alkenes, and alkynes, offering a direct and economical way to such organonitrile intermediates.
In a scientific article titled, “The preparation of aryl nitriles” by DIANDRA M. RUDZINSKI, NICHOLAS E. LEADBEATER in chimica oggi/Chemistry Today—vol. 29 n. 4 July/August 2011, reports the process of CYANATION through Modern methodologies by using catalytic amounts of transition-metal complexes, together with less toxic cyanide sources making chemistry more efficient, applicable and safer.



Article titled, “Mechanistic Insights into the Hydrocyanation Reaction” by Laura Bini in page 121, reports the hydrocyanation of styrene in presence of CuCN giving 78% conversion and 88% selectivity with a ratio of 13:87 for linear and branched nitriles and a yield of 73-80%. cinnamonitrile and their esters have wide range of industrial applications for example in cosmetic industry.
Although few inventions have been made in the synthesis of cinnamonitrile they require multiple steps with consumption of large quantities of hazardous chemicals with less efficiency and narrow substrate scope. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide an alternate and effective synthesis to provide a library of cinnamonitrile. Further it would be desirable have a process of synthesis of cinnamonitriles by a convenient single step one pot process. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide a simple process for the conversion of dibromovinyl benzenes to their corresponding cinnamonitriles.